A last chance for forever
by NHAlways
Summary: Naley AU. Haley and Nathan divorced in Season 5 despite Nathan's fight to fix their marriage. Now 5 years later when he announces his engagement to his new girlfriend Lindsey, Haley realizes the mistake she made and is willing to fight for what is left of their relationship. Has always and forever ended for good? Or is there still a chance for true love?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! :)**

**As some of you might noticed I moved the What if? one shot collection to the "complete" section.**

**It's still not over but I don't have any ideas at the moment so its on hiatus right now...**

**I also decided to do a story out of the one shot I posted about Nathan and Haley getting a divorce in Season 5..**

**It starts with the one shot and will develop from there. I hope you like it! Please review and if you have any ideas for other What if one shots please let me know!**

**I don't own anything of One Tree Hill..**

The mother smiled through her tears as he held onto his son tightly, kissing his cheek gently.

„I am so proud of you, Jamie!" Haley couldn't believe that her son had just finished primary school and was about to start middle school soon. It wasn't that big of her deal, but for her it felt like he was about to graduate University! In her eyes, he was still the little boy of five years old that had an imaginary friend. Jamie smiled and was about to thank her, when his father jogged towards him.

„Jamie! Come here, bud!" He hugged his son and grinned proudly.

His gaze wandered to Haley. "Hales.", he greeted her and the two exchanged a small smile.

After their divorce, they decided to part in a friendly way, not wanting Jamie to suffer from her separation. It was hard for them to constantly be near the other, but they dealt with it over the years.

"Listen.", Nathan spoke again. "We are having dinner over at our place. You two should come along! Sawyer and a few of her friends will be there as well.", he winked at his son and Haley would have laughed, if she didn't cringe at the thought of Nathan's fiance. It wasn't like she was mean or fake or even a supermodel. It was the fact that Lindsey Strauss was one of the most caring people she knew and one of her best friends. After Lucas had gotten back together with Peyton, he wanted to make peace between him and his ex, so he asked her to come to Tree Hill.

Nathan and Haley were already separate at that time, even though Nathan still tried to fix their broken relationship. In the end he finally gave up, when Haley told him she didn't love him anymore. It hurt like hell to hear those words from the woman he considered the love of his life but he promised himself to let her be happy, and that wasn't with him.

So when Lindsey came to town he was still pretty much heartbroken and Lindsey, too, wasn't really over Lucas. One night when they were all hanging out at some bar, all their friends started to dance, leaving Lindsey and Nathan alone at the table, not really in the mood to party.

They talked all night and both found it weird how well they connected. They exchanged numbers and toasted to a good friendship. However loneliness and a bit lust led on another night to a drunken mistake and the two of them ended in bed. It took them a while to step into a relationship and to tell the others, but even Lucas seemed happy for the two after he got over the shock. Of course their friends preferred Nathan to be with Haley, but finally they understood that this book was closed.

"Hales?", Nathan asked again when Haley still hadn't said anything to his invitation and she blushed. She noted that Jamie was gone and Nathan laughed. "He went over to his friends for a moment. He says he's coming tonight, so what about you?"

She shook her head softly. "Sorry, but I think I will just head home. I need to rest a bit. These past days were stressful." She muttered a short 'goodbye' and was about to leave, when Nathan grabbed her arm. "Do you want to tell me, what that's really about?", he challenged her and she looked at him with a blank expression. "What do you want to hear Nathan,huh?" Her tone was harsh and Nathan knew she was angry. He figured it was because of him and Lindsey. She made clear from the beginning that she wasn't their biggest fan and that was okay, but ever since they announced their engagement, she kept her distance even more. He took her arm and led her to a space, where less people stood and sighed. "Is it because of the engagement? Because we are getting married? Do you want to talk about it?" Haley scoffed. "No. I do not want to talk about it, Nathan! That is really the last thing I want to do! I just need to rest a little, so excuse me if I cannot be there when you celebrate in paradise! Bye!" She stormed off, in search for Jamie, but she couldn't held the few tears that fell down her cheeks. She still loved him. She always had. And now there she was, heartbroken because he was marrying someone else, when she was the one, who let him go.

A few days later, it still bugged Nathan how Haley had reacted so he decided to try and talk to her again, since Jamie wasn't home, but at Chuck's house.

They were still friends and he didn't want things to become awkward between them now.

He waited for her to open the door, and was glad when she stood before him.  
>"Hey."<p>

"Hey."  
>"Can I come him?" He felt nervous. He hasn't been at their house, her house now, since a few years now.<p>

"I don't think now is a good time, Nathan." Truth was, she couldn't handle him right now.

"Hiding someone?", he joked, but she didn't laugh.

"Nathan, please. Just go.", she pleaded tiredly.  
>"No. We need to talk. Now."<p>

She sighed and stepped back, so he could step in.

"I don't know why you are acting like this!", Nathan suddenly fumed and Haley looked at him shocked. He hadn't seen him getting so wound up in a long time.

"It's hard.", she finally admitted, to him and herself, and looked down, not wanting to see his reaction.  
>"What?", he asked surprised.<p>

"I said it's hard. You getting married. Its hard for me, okay?" She still didn't look at him.

"Why? Haley you said you moved on! You told me you weren't in love with me anymore!"  
>He was angry now. What did she mean? Why was she doing this, now?<p>

"I lied, okay? I still love you Nathan! I probably always will.. I just..I am sorry.", she whispered softly, turning away from him. She didn't want him to see her tears.

Nathan couldn't stand seeing her so broken, so on instinct he went to wrap his arms around her and let cry into his chest. Suddenly, she looked up at him.

"Do you still love me, Nathan? I know it's probably a stupid question. We are separated for years now, but I guess I just want to know. Do you?" She knew this wasn't fair, but she was tired of holding in all her emotions for so long.

Nathan smiled sadly. "I do Haley. I do still love you. And you know it. And Lindsey knows it, too. And I always will. But you let me go. I tried so hard... You gave up on us. And now I made a commitment to Lindsey and I can't back out. She was left at the altar once. I can't do this to her a second time. I love you, Hales. But I love her, too. She is a good person and we are happy. And even though we all know she will always be just second best, I cannot break her heart again. We had our chance, Hales. And we have the most beautiful son in the world. Maybe there wasn't more for us in the store. Maybe that was all we were meant to have."

"Nathan! You cannot say that! I love you, Nathan!" She struggled before whispering her next words. "Don't marry her, please. I might sound selfish, but I can't stand the thought of you being with her for the rest of your life. I know we are still meant to be. Always and Forever."  
>Nathan stepped back, starring at her for a moment, before pressing his lips to her forehead.<p>

"I love you. Always and Forever. But I am sorry. I can't to this. I have to go."

Only when Haley heard the door close, did she fall to the ground and cried for the true loss of love.

Always and Forever had ended for good.


	2. Chapter 2

**This is the new and second chapter! Let me know what you think.**  
><strong>I also want to say that there will be not much naley love in this chapter.. and it will take a while until both of them will open up again, but always &amp; forever cannot break that easily! Enjoy..<strong>

Nathan Scott lied wide awake in bed. He looked next to him, to the dark figure lying beside him. He could hear her breathing calmly and he almost smiled at the thought, when he remembered his encounter with Haley earlier that day.

He couldn't stop thinking about her words. She had told him that she still loved him. He had dealt with the fact that his ex wife had moved on and that there was nothing left for him in her heart and just when things were starting to light up again, she turned his world upside down again.

He felt Lindsey turn over in her sleep and move over towards him. The night before he would have welcomed her closeness, but at this moment it was a little to much to handle, when all he could think about was the girl he married at sixteen.

Not wanting to be rude though and already feeling guilty, he took Lindsey in his arms and her hand rested on his chest.

He was surprised that feeling her heartbeat calmed him a little and when she snuggled closer, he actually felt himself relax.

He really loved her despite the fact that he was still thinking about her ex wife. Falling in love with Lindsey was easy. She was a great person and he loved her kindness. He didn't plan to find love after Haley again but he had been glad that Lindsey had found a way into his heart. But today he had realised that his former wife still had a part of his heart, Lindsey hadn't reached and he was beginning to think that she wouldn't be able to. It was reserved for his first love. He knew the moment he said he vows that his love for Haley James would never fade but he also understood now that passionate love was not the only key in a good relationship.

He couldn't just throw away everything he had built with Lindsey over the last few years. His friend had finally accept her, Jamie had finally accepted that his parents weren't going to be together forever and Haley had seemed to be completely happy with her life.

That was until they announced their engagement at some dinner party. It was actually Lindsey who proposed, probably because she knew that Nathan wouldn't propose to anyone else than Haley. It even shocked her, when Nathan agreed to marriage.

However, he just agreed to it because he had thought there was no chance him and Haley would be together again and now that she declared her love for him, he was more confused than ever.

Sighing he tried to black out all those thoughts that had him up for hours. He tightened his grip on Lindsey and closed his eyes, praying sleep would find him soon.

"You told him that you are still in love with him?", Brooke exclaimed and Haley nodded tearfully.

She had called her best friend to come over because she couldn't handle being alone that night. She could have just slipped into her sons bed for comfort, but her little boy had had such an exhausting day that she wanted him to sleep peacefully and she also knew that he would just remind her more of Nathan, and she wasn't sure she could have dealt with this tonight.

"And he told you that he was still marrying her?" Brooke couldn't believe that Haley had finally told him everything that had been building up inside of her. She was finally admitting to herself that she had made a mistake when she had asked for the divorce and when she hadn't given Nathan the chance to prove her that they could fix their marriage.

"Brooke! I don't really don't need you to repeat everything I just told you okay... It's over. For good this time.", she let out a quiet sob. "I lost him. It was my fault."

Brooke felt bad for her friend and pulled her into a hug. "I should have done something about it... I could have done something to break them up, so they wouldn't be planning a wedding now! I am sorry, Hales."  
>Haley smiled through her tears. "You couldn't have done anything. He fell in love with her. And now she gets the happy ending... I had him, Brooke. I had him and I gave him away.."<p>

"Haley you had your reasons! It wasn't a stupid fight about a new car or forgetting an anniversary or something! He hurt you..."  
>"But he wanted to fight for me, Brooke. He fought for me. He was honest with me and I lied to him and told him I wasn't in love with him anymore...And I thought I didn't. Love him, I mean. But then he proposes to Lindsey and I finally snap. I see her living my life and I finally realise that I have been hiding behind teaching and Jamie and now it's too late."<p>

"No!", Brooke shouted out. "It is not too late! You have to gain his trust again. You have to be the one who will fight for your relationship. Show him that you care, Hales."  
>"I did!", Haley let out frustrated. "He dumped me!"<p>

"He still loves you! I am sure he is confused as hell now, we have to take advantage of that. I am not going to lie to you. He really likes Lindsey, loves her even and I know that he is genuinely happy with her. But you are Haley James. You are always going to be his number one."

"But what if he choses the second choice? What if he realizes love is not enough? What if he is happy with her?"  
>"Then you let him go and move on."<br>Haley frowned. She couldn't do that. She knew now that she couldn't stop loving him. He was the love of her life, her always.

"I can't Brooke.", her voice was a broken whisper and Brooke nodded slowly with a small smile.

"Then fight like hell and get your man back, Haley James Scott!"


End file.
